Wednesday, December 28, 2011

That is what it is called when registration is held up for over an hour, when the Internet is down and the printer isn't working...That is what inspires tired, waiting registrees to sing...It is grace that must triumph when you walk long distances to try and find the loading dock for the exhibit hall...When you are trying to sort hundreds of name badges out and get them to the right people in a mass of faces...When we run out of badges to print and we can't contact the delivery man...When the key doesn't work for your hotel room and you are supposed to be changed and back stage in a few minutes...

Grace is what has carried many soldiers today through a war zone of stress, intensity, and the unleashing of the enemy intent on not letting hungry, crying souls be filled...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I'm sitting in the van traveling down interstate 30 in southern Arkansas - and I wonder...

How is it that I am worthy of such matchless love? How is it that He left His throne in glory? How is it that He left the glory of harmonious beautiful relationships to come to a world of brokenness and pain? How is it...

And now I know.... I am not worthy... no I have never been worthy - but the mending of a relationship, the winning of a heart, the healing of a battered soul imprisoned in loneliness - is always worthy of giving all.

And that is why He came -

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Friday, December 23, 2011

And soon we will be all snuggled up in the living room... reading stories, talking, and simply enjoying the joy of togetherness...

And with Christmas Eve this year comes a change to my blog - a new look, a new address. Yes, Christmas time this year actually freed me up just enough to pull this together and I believe everything is transferred over - friends, followers, feed subscribers... (please let me know if you see something amiss ;) )

And soon we will be all snuggled up in the living room... reading stories, talking, and simply enjoying the joy of togetherness...

And with Christmas Eve this year comes a change to my blog - a new look, a new address. Yes, Christmas time this year actually freed me up just enough to pull this together and I believe everything is transferred over - friends, followers, feed subscribers... (please let me know if you see something amiss ;) )

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

I sit quietly on our sofa... three hours of bookkeeping laid to the side.

Rest - sweet rest.

The soft glow from the Christmas lights filters down through the shaggy branches of our tree (the tree we probably wouldn't have were it not for the hearts of family and friends).

But my thoughts do not rest on the tree - I'm reflecting on a gift....

No, not the Christmas story this time (although it encompasses such), I'm thinking of another gift - a personal one that will ever be a treasure to me. It's a gift that will stand in my heart as a monument of His matchless love, one that will forever remind me of my helpless unworthiness - and His unfathomable compassion. Such for me, is the gift of a song.

You may not understand... but... perhaps you would if you had a chance to look back through my journal over the years... There you would find a verse here, a couple lines there, a scribble and a scratch and a heart yearning for expression...

I've wanted to write a song for years... but the inspiration, the words, the music, it all didn't seem to line up right and so I was left with a little something that was really nothing.

Sure I've written words to other songs before - and there was even a little work song that came one day... but I've been waiting...

And this last weekend I received a true gift.

Perhaps one day - one day... you may have a chance to hear - Heart of a Child.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I thought I understood joy... Until I heard the explanation of a lonely preacher on the banks of the Jordan...

He stands peacefully at the waters edge. No longer are the sandy banks covered with a multitude of people - eagerly pressing to hear his message. The Roman centurions are gone now, the Pharisees have long since turned their angry backs, and even the common people seem to have lost the interest they once had. Sure, there are the few that come - seeking him out.... but alas the masses have turned away.

He stands there in silence... Only to be interrupted by the burning hearts of disciples - jealous of another man's fame.

"But master... All men are going to Him to be baptized..."

Stinging words... biting at the heart of a warrior. Where now is your fame, your honor, your recognition? Where are the crowds that once flocked to your side? Why do they no longer come to hear your message of truth? Why have they forsaken you to follow after another man?

But here is no ordinary warrior - and from a heart filled with emotion echos the response -

"...this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:29

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I sit in silence. Sure, it is one thing to be content when it seems all is lost, your influence is gone, and your honor has been transferred to another man... I probably would have called that victory.

But joy?

And then it was driven deeper yesterday - a man of God must know how to suffer well.

And that means joy in the deepest suffering. No, not just something that is tacked on... This is a joy that is found, completed, fulfilled - in the midst of the fire.

Only the men who know how to suffer well can truly help a suffering world. It is men like these that can take the hand of a suffering child, enter their pain, and lead them back to joy. It is men like these that start revolutions and change the world because suffering is no longer a risk, it's a pleasure. Here is where fear is replaced with courage and the coward is turned into the courageous.

Deeper victory is not merely contentment - There must be the embracing of joy.

And no, it doesn't mean no more sorrow or pain...This is joy in the midst of suffering... and love in the midst of pain....

Tell the world friend - the lowest place is where joy is found and love is birthed... And there is nothing greater than a man of suffering...

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And so we find our warrior cast in a dungeon, rejected, smitten, and beheaded - alone.

Yet of him it is said:

"For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." Luke 7:28